METLEN plans to begin construction in ‘early 2027’, and plans to complete work on the project in 2030.
December 19, 2025
Renewable power project developer EDF power solutions UK and Ireland has appointed Greek-headquartered firm METLEN Energy & Metals to complete engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work at its 400MW Longfield solar PV farm in the UK.
METLEN will be required to complete site surveys, procurement and delivery of materials and all testing and commissioning works, save for grid connection work. The company will begin construction in “early 2027”, and plans to complete work at the project in 2030.
With this award, METLEN has more than 95 projects in its portfolio of completed and under-construction solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in the UK; the cumulative capacity of its solar projects stands at more than 2.3GW, while the capacity of its battery projects is more than 1.3GWh.
“We are delighted to partner with METLEN Energy & Metals on the Longfield solar farm project,” said Matthew Boulton, the director of solar, storage and private wire at EDF power solutions UK. “This is a significant step forward for the delivery of our first DCO (development consent order) project.”
The Longfield project received a contract for difference (CfD) in round six of the UK’s auction, which was held earlier this year and awarded 4.5GW of capacity for solar projects, the most for the technology since the start of the CfD scheme in 2014. EDF has also secured a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Transport for London to sell some of the power generated at the project.
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Securing a DCO is a prerequisite for completing a nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP), which includes all solar projects larger than 50MW in capacity. The Labour government has made approval of such projects a priority, with energy secretary Ed Miliband approving projects such as the 500MW Tillbridge Solar project earlier this year.
Just this week, the Planning Inspectorate accepted an NSIP application for the 500MW The Droves solar project in East Anglia. While EDF’s latest project has a slightly smaller capacity than these projects, it will also be larger than the 373MW Cleve Hill solar-plus-storage project, which started operations in July and is currently the country’s largest operational solar PV project.
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JP Casey
Section Editor, Informa
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